1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an AC generator which can be used in common for both the case where a device main body having a function of regulating the magnitude of an output voltage is provided in the AC generator and the case where the device main body is provided outside of the AC generator.
2. Description of the Related Art
A vehicle AC generator mounted in an engine room is driven to be rotated by an engine to charge a battery and supply electric power to an electric load mounted in the vehicle. It is a voltage-regulating device that controls an output voltage of the vehicle AC generator in accordance with a charged state of the battery and electric power demanded by the electric load.
As the voltage-regulating device configured as a component provided in the vehicle AC generator, the following one is known. A device main body having a voltage-regulating function for controlling the output voltage and a capacitor element are mounted in a continuous space inside a holder. Then, an insulating resin is injected at one position to simultaneously fix the device main body and the capacitor element (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2011-130639 (FIG. 4)).
In the case of the above-mentioned voltage-regulating device, when the resin is injected, a heat sink bonded to a heat-generating portion of the device main body through a thermally-conductive member also functions as a bottom cover. Therefore, the voltage-regulating device described above has the effects of reducing the number of components to be fixed and shortening fabrication time.
On the other hand, there also exists a so-called regulator-less vehicle AC generator as one type of the vehicle AC generator. In the vehicle AC generator without a regulator, the device main body is not provided on the generator side but provided in a control device (ECU) on the vehicle side.
In the mainstream vehicle AC generator including the device main body provided on the generator side, the voltage-regulating device, which is a component incorporated therein, is shared, to the extent possible, for most of a wide variety of types of generators having the same connector structure. On the other hand, the vehicle AC generator without a regulator does not include the device main body corresponding to a main component of the voltage-regulating device and therefore, cannot be configured with the shared components. Thus, the voltage-regulating device is conventionally configured with components having individual specifications.
The vehicle AC generator described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2011-130639 cited above includes the device main body and the capacitor element which are mounted in the continuous space inside the holder, and the insulating resin is injected at one position. If the same holder is used for the vehicle AC generator without a regulator so as to be shared and the device main body is removed from the holder, a heat sink, which abuts against the device main body to dissipate the heat of the device main body, is also removed. Specifically, the heat sink, which is also used as a resin-receiving cover, is also removed. Therefore, in this state, the resin cannot be sealed within the holder, resulting in a state in which the capacitor element and terminal connection portions are exposed.
Moreover, the mounting of the heat sink only for the purpose of receiving the resin is not accepted in terms of reduction in cost and reduction in the number of components. Accordingly, there is a problem in that the common use of the components and reduction in fabrication cost are not pushed forward.